Union to play Kansas City in MLS tournament quarterfinals; NYCFC ousts Toronto
Sporting Kansas City won a penalty shootout after a scoreless tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps, who were down to their third-string goalkeeper with no backup. New York City FC routed Toronto FC, 3-1.
Sporting Kansas City 0, Vancouver Whitecaps 0 (Kansas City wins penalty shootout 3-1)
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Tim Melia made two saves during the penalty shootout, Gianluca Busio scored the deciding penalty and Sporting Kansas City beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 on penalties after the sides played to a 0-0 draw in regulation early Monday morning.
Kansas City advanced to the quarterfinals of the MLS is Back tournament in a match that wrapped up around 1:15 a.m. Kansas City will face Philadelphia in the quarterfinals on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN and ESPN Deportes).
Alan Pulido, Ilie Sanchez and Busio scored for Kansas City in the penalty shootout, finally getting shots past Vancouver goalkeeper Thomas Hasal after he spent the night keeping the Whitecaps in the game.
Melia saved attempts by Derek Cornelius and Yordy Reyna, and Cristian Dajome's attempt hit the post and bounced out as the Whitecaps unlikely tournament run came to an end.
"Just the life of a goalkeeper right, one one play one decision that affects the game," Melia said. "Then when you go into a penalty shootout I think our goalkeeper coach does a phenomenal job preparing me and all the goalkeepers for those situations and we were fortunate to come out on top tonight."
It was the first match in the knockout round of the tournament to go to penalties after the end of regulation.
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Vancouver needed a 2-0 win over Chicago in its final group game to advance in the tournament, but was playing the entire tournament short-handed due to players opting out and injuries.
Kansas City dominated the 90 minutes. It outshot Vancouver 35-8, but only eight of those ended up on target and Hasal saved them all.
Hasal started the tournament as Vancouver's third-string goalkeeper and was called into duty late in the Whitecaps loss to Seattle after Maxime Crepeau suffered a broken finger. Vancouver backup Bryan Meredith left the team in Florida earlier in the tournament after the unexpected death of his mother.
Hasal seemed worthy of starting consideration after his performance against Kansas City. He turned away efforts from Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza and Johnny Russell in the first half. Hasal stayed strong into the second half, again stopping great scoring chances by Zusi and Pulido early in the half.
There was concern midway through the second half if Hasal could continue after a collision with Pulido in the 69th minute. Hasal went low to deflect a cross and Pulido's shin collided with the back of Hasal's head. Vancovuer nearly had to ask defender Ali Adnan to step into the goal, but Hasal was cleared to continue.
"Thomas needs to stay in his bubble, keep focused, keep working," Vancouver coach Marc Dos Santos said. "It's the only way he's going to become better and better. But he's showed great signs in the last 180 minutes."
Melia had a mostly relaxed night until the shootout, although he came up with a big stop late in the second half denying Adnan's free kick from 30 yards.
New York City FC 3, Toronto FC 1
Jesús Medina scored in the fifth minute, Valentín Castellanos doubled the lead early in the second half and Maxi Moralez provided the clinching goal late as New York City FC beat Toronto FC 3-1 on Sunday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the MLS is Back tournament.
NYCFC was the last team to qualify for the knockout round of the tournament thanks to Houston's draw against the LA Galaxy in the next-to-last match of the group stage. A late Galaxy goal knocked out the Dynamo and kept NYCFC in the tournament as the final third-place team to advance.
Despite being the last team in, NYCFC was the dominant side in the round of 16 matchup. NYCFC had just two goals all season and started with four straight losses before beating Inter Miami in the final group stage game. They doubled that goal total in less than an hour against Toronto and got a bit of revenge for losing to the Reds in last year's MLS Cup playoffs.
NYCFC will play either Portland or FC Cincinnati in the quarterfinals next Saturday.
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"We were talking the whole tournament about discipline, we were talking about togetherness, we were talking about doing it for 95 minutes. The team effort today was unbelievable," NYCFC coach Ronny Deila said. "Everybody worked everything they could."
Toronto won Group C behind a win and two draws, and the five goals from young striker Ayo Akinola. But Akinola missed Sunday's match with tightness in his hamstring and Toronto's attack only challenged NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson on rare occasions.
Toronto's Patrick Mullins scored in the 87th minute off an assist from Jozy Altidore, but it was just the Reds second shot on goal in the match.
"You play these knockout games and obviously things are going to be tight," Toronto midfielder Michael Bradley said. "You know every part of the game is so important and we we got off to a really bad start and from there never really found a good way in the game."
Medina was the recipient of a poor clearance by Bradley and was set up by Anton Tinnerholm's pass. Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg got his hands on the shot but couldn't keep it out of the net.
Another clever assist led to Castellanos' goal in the 55th minute. Moralez chipped a blind pass into space and ended up at the feet of Castellanos. He made a quick cut on defender Omar Gonzalez and his shot grazed off Westberg's fingers and into the net.
Moralez added the clinching goal in the 81st minute as Toronto was caught on a counter attack.